"If we can't get the driver on anything else, let's call her a racist"

Oh Boregonian...look what you've cooked up now...( the following writing not in bold was pulled from the article I linked to.)

Chapman says the woman eventually got off the bus with the baby. Chapman followed and tried to get her back aboard, but the woman, who spoke little English, refused.

So the bus driver never did even ever kick her off the bus?

“I couldn’t believe that a bus driver would kick a woman and a baby off the bus, in the dark, by themselves, next to the Hillsboro jail,” Chapman said.

Oh. Wait. I guess she did now that you said she did although what you just said is nearly opposite to what you said before that.

Chapman said she hadn’t personally seen racism, but said other passengers told her the same driver has treated Hispanic passengers similarly in the past.

Oh. Never mind. She didn't kick the person off the bus, but now the driver is a racist! Now TriMet must fire the driver! If he-said-she-said tells it that this bus driver has, in the past, treated other Hispanic people like this, we must condemn this bus driver to never drive a bus for TriMet again because we are so bloodthirsty to criticize TriMet's bus drivers time and time again.

Sigh. Sarcasm fits nicely in there, dontcha think? I'm already on the verge of getting sick of hearing this story over an over again and it's only been out for a little over a day!

New TriMet Rules for Riding?

http://trimetdiaries.com/2011/10/new-rules-for-riding/

Oops.

Who else had forgotten about this (I say with embarrassment)?
It, along with the cell phone bus driver, had gotten lost in the media's new frenzy over the bus driver 'kicking' the mother and baby off the bus.
That's what happens when these frenzies come up: everything else goes down the drain. Demonizing TriMet bus drivers comes first.
Hope the driver is okay.

Sophie Soong from KPTV out on TV Highway interviewing people on the baby thing
via: http://rantingsofatrimetbusdriver.blogspot.com/2011/10/sophie-soong-from-kptv-out-on-tv.html

Two more news reports.

We even got ABC news joining in! Boy. Too much excitement over this? Just a little.
OR bus driver accused of berating mom, crying baby | OneNewsNow.com -- 'Berating'? Interesting word choice there...?
Crying Baby Empties Bus…In Protest of the Driver | ABC

The baby incident

Okay. The baby incident. Well, if you have been watching the news media like I have been, you'll know the truth in what I have to say here.

This whole thing has just become a media feeding frenzy. The blatant facts are becoming skewed in all the different reports being done by our raving media and the whole thing has become blown way out of proportion. 

TriMet has now reportedly put the driver on administrative leave and we all know where that leads. I fear that she will soon be fired which she does not deserve. This was a minuscule incident that the media picked up on and everyone got excited about it. TriMet is only putting the driver on leave because they are cowards. They don't want to stand up and defend their driver. Although she didn't handle this the best way she could, she shouldn't be fired over something like this. All that happened was that she simply reached her breaking point.

Yes, she made a mistake. She shouldn't have kicked the mother and baby off the bus. Simple as that. But you know what? It happened and it was a stupid decision. But she is not to bear the whole of the blame. Dispatch screwed up too.

According to the transcript of the incident, dispatch was in the wrong by telling the driver essentially just to deal with it and keep driving. What sticks out to me initially is that the driver didn't want to continue with the screaming baby because the driver felt it was not safe. I thought safety was a value at TriMet? If it really was (and so was caring about their passengers and drivers), dispatch would've sent a road supervisor out there to assist the driver. Had they done that, there would be no incident. 

There were mistakes made throughout this whole unfolding of events, but the reality of it all is that it is public transit and this kind of stuff will happen and nothing much can be done, save what I have mentioned above about what TriMet should've done.

The various news 'reports' are here.

Some of the various media hype stories

AUDIO: TriMet Reacts to Driver's Request for Mom and Baby to Get Off Her Bus | KXL Radio--a talk with Mary Fetsch about the incident.

Driver accused of kicking mom, crying baby off bus - Forbes.com

Ore. driver accused of kicking mom, crying baby off bus, saying ‘Can’t drive with that noise’ - The Washington Post

Bus driver kicks mother, baby off bus in Hillsboro | The Columbian

TriMet bus driver kicks mother, crying baby off bus in Hillsboro, 'Can't drive with noise' | The Republic

A rider of that line 57 bus has stepped forward and commented on the incident--it's worth the read.